Northen Lights Rough Draft

“Like Mother, Like Daughter”

If you have ever acted in a way that your mother would have, you are evidence that holds the known phrase, “Like mother, like daughter”, to be true. Often in life daughter’s tend to act in a way that is similar to their mother’s actions or personality; whether it may be eating habits, drug problems, simple patience or confidence daughter’s tend to be a mirror image of their mother’s . While many may argue that daughter’s with mother’s who aren’t thought of as role models, fight not to become a split image of their mother’s, there are only so many aspects of your mother that you can change about your ownself. Your mother is in your blood, your mother is in your soul and whether she is a large part of your life or not, she still effects the type of person you grow up to be. Vendela Vida, the author of Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name, uses Clarissa and her mother’s relationship as clear proof to this philosophy, especially when they both reason why they left their originial lives.
Throughout the book Clarissa’s mother is presented as a hated person who is selfish and practically has no care for her children. Clarissa struggles to find her mother for an explanation as to why she left, but along the way flashbacks to when she was a child growing up around her mother. Towards the end of the book when Clarissa finally is met with her mother, her mother gives her an excuse as to why she left Clarissa and their family that terrible day in the mall.
Even though the author portrays Clarissa as someone who thinks of herself as different from her mother and someone who holds some hatred for her, Clarissa.........

Northern Lights Journal Entry 2

While reading the rest of the book I had so many mixed feelings about all the characters, especially Clarissa and her Mom. I was also somewhat surprised by the ending and wasn’t expecting to find out what happened with the rest of Clarissa’s life.
Although, I had a confident feeling throughout reading the book that Clarissa would find her mother, I didn’t expect for their encounter to be so rough. I found it upsetting how when Clarissa found her mother, one of the first things her mother said was that she had every right to leave them because that wasn’t the life that she signed up for or belonged in. Often in life people are faced with situations that they don’t want to be in or paths of life that they didn’t hope to go down, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to use it as an excuse to leave their lives and the people involved because they are unhappy. While I do have sympathy for what the mother went through when she was young and raped, I think leaving her child because it reminds her of that terrible point in her life is a bit extreme. I found it quite ironic how all through the book, Clarissa complains about her mother’s actions and reasons for leaving, but yet at the end of the novel she uses a similar excuse for why she shouldn’t return to NY and to Pankaj because that’s her old life that she wasn’t happy in. This part of the book holds truth to the saying, “Like mother, like daughter”.
I was also quite surprised by the ending. I wasn’t expecting for Clarissa’s whole future to be thrown out like that in a span of a couple of pages. I expected for Clarissa to realize how wrong she was for leaving Pankaj like her mom left her, and would end up returning to NY to him. When Clarissa talks about how her future life ends up turning out and how happy she is, it compares to how her mother seems content with her new life at the cabin running the tourism excursion. I finished the book pleased with the ending, because sometimes I hate finishing the book wondering what happened with the characters; although, it allows the reader to be imaginative, it can be annoying not knowing what the author was thinking when finishing the book and what would happen to the characters afterward.
After reading the Narrative Sequence assignment I have decided to do the option where I have to examine a close reading in the book. I am considering looking at the close reading where Clarissa gives herself reasoning for why she shouldn’t return to NY and Pankaj, and how this relates to her mother’s explanation for leaving her family when Clarissa and her mother have their encounter at the cabin. I think it would be interesting to examine the whole “Like mother, like daughter” aspect that I mentioned before; how all through the book Clarissa complains of her mother’s actions but yet replays some of them herself. Mother-daughter relationships are very unique in how similar both people are, and how even if the daughter doesn’t want to be like her mother, it’s likely that she will at least act in similar ways as her mother. I was wondering if I could use direct quotes from both parts of the book (Clarissa/mother encounter at cabin when her mother says why she left and when Clarissa decides not to go back to Pankaj at the end of the book), even though they aren’t in the same close reading?